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It should come as no surprise that consumers trust reviews more than they trust advertising. But reviews themselves are becoming a form of advertising and based on results of the recent Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey (pdf) it’s working:

“Recommendations by personal acquaintances and opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising globally,” the Nielsen survey, the largest of its kind, shows that,  “nine in every ten Internet consumers worldwide (90 percent) trust recommendations from people they know, while seven in every ten (70 percent) trust consumer opinions posted online.”

This leads Trendwatching.com, in its September trend report to proclaim:

“Businesses have to understand and accept that consumers’ decision making processes, which ultimately come down to whether they will buy from you or from someone else, have truly shifted to a new, powerful peer-to-peer arena.”

While consumer-influenced purchasing via reviews and recommendations has been occurring online for some time, it certainly seems to be building to a feverish pitch. The very nature of social media encourages friends and acquaintances to freely share information and, therefore, to make opinions about products and services widely known. Trendwatching.com cites ShoutIT as an example of an application that allows consumers’ reviews to easily appear at once on Facebook, Digg, and Delicious pages.

Trendwatching points to a mind-boggling number of reviews floating around in the webosphere. Reviews are encouraged by online companies using consumer feedback as fodder for increasing repeat website visits.

Says Trendwatching: “Expect every industry, every sector, every product to eventually succumb to reviews.” In fact, think of Twitter as an example of a global real-time reviewing tool.

Perhaps the most curious sub-trend of the reviewing trend is the belief that reviews by ordinary, everyday people are just as trustworthy as reviews by supposed experts. While professional reviewers have their place, reviews written by friends, acquaintances, and “consumers whose lifestyles mirror yours” are regarded as relevant and real.

It’s all part of the transparency trend – consumers want to know all about companies and all about products. Increasingly, they demand the ability to instantly compare product benefits and prices online in an effort to get the best deal. The transparency trend means companies will have to be ever more sensitive to their competitors. They’ll also have to rapidly respond to bad reviews and do online damage control.

As Trendwatching says: “It’s ultimately about character, about finding your voice, about your behavior as a brand that, if in tune with the current zeitgeist of ‘openness’ and ‘generosity’, automatically turns transparency into a benefit instead of a threat.”

Read more here:
Reviewing is the New Advertising

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The economy’s in the doldrums. Ad revenue is down. But the next breakthrough marketing opportunity may be right in your hand. Handheld or mobile marketing is positioned for growth, according to new research from the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). MMA claims mobile marketing budgets will increase 26 percent this year, even as marketing budgets generally decline.

Nielsen confirms mobile advertising is finally gaining traction. A 2008 Nielsen study showed mobile ad views rising and indicated that about half of mobile data subscribers exposed to an ad responded to it.

One reason mobile marketing is growing is simply because of the growth in the number of mobile data users. While accessing the Internet via handheld devices has been available for some time, today’s smartphones – Apple’s recently upgraded iPhone, Blackberry models, and the upcoming Palm Pre – are driving the market for mobile web usage. The skyrocketing number of applications for these devices makes connecting online even more desirable. Some estimates put U.S. mobile usage at nearly 100 million by 2013 – about double what it is now.

A recent study by The Kelsey Group says the real growth opportunity will be in local mobile advertising. Revenue from local mobile ads will reach over $3 billion in 5 years, up from $160 million last year. Mobile search will reach over $2 billion.

A consumer is literally carrying around a local advertising medium in his or her pocket. The handheld can receive messages, ads, promotional offers, and coupons on a local basis. Built-in GPS technology makes it even more seductive. You can walk into a store and take advantage of an e-coupon you just received on your mobile device, generated for that very store, in that very location. This is the ultimate one-to-one electronic connection a retailer can make with a customer.

Mobile marketing is just a tiny fraction of marketing budgets today, but it’s not hard to imagine a future in which it becomes an important means of targeting personalized promotions directly to consumers. If consumers perceive those promotions to be of value, they will only reinforce the desirability of mobile marketing.

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Opportunity in Your Hand

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Yes, opportunities presented by social technologies are exciting but the task of shifting gears (staffing, allocating budget, re-training, prioritizing tactics) is daunting for most marketers.  So what can be done today?  How can “believers” in social media/networking/marketing work within the confines of corporate bureaucracies and convince superiors to begin experimentation under a sense of urgency?  Where is the low hanging Acquisition 2.0 fruit?

While researching this column, I decided to pose the following question to experts who are truly in the trenches:

“In the end, mass communications, ‘talk-at-them marketing’ is falling out of fashion.  ‘Engage and talk-with-them marketing’ is becoming the rage… and slowly bearing fruit for some.  Is traditional, interruptive marketing dying?”

I asked each colleague to respond to this (I admit!) rather inflammatory question in a way that yields tips on convincing disbelievers to begin taking baby steps forward.  So here’s some ammunition to take to your CEOs and CMOs…

We Aren’t In Searchville Any Longer, Toto
First, social / experiential marketing doubters must be given the chance to appreciate how the Web is radically shifting power away from them and toward customers.  As a result, customers actively ignore and distrust advertising… and the marketers that push it.  Think about it — how many times do we hear about the latest trend in advertising which involves disguising ads to look less like ads?  In fact many believe that’s what social technologies should be used for (they call this aimless tactic that insults customers’ intelligence “branded entertainment”).

Media firms like Nielsen and Consumer Reports cite growing distrust of advertisements and marketing ploys among customers over the years.  In 2007, Nielsen noted that over two-thirds of survey respondents from across the globe cited “recommendations from others” as the most helpful, trusted form of advertising.  Surprised?  Well to be fair I was lecturing in Monte Carlo last year and a search marketing entrepreneur did point out that recommendations are hardly ads (why would they be considered in the same classification as a TV, radio or Web ad??!!).  Point taken.

His retort was prompted by my pointing out that search engine marketing — now widely practiced by most Web marketers — is taking a hit.  Nielsen says only 34% of customers ranked their experience with search engine ads as trustworthy, reliable.  I think you can see why he stood up and said something

Yet another study from the University of Southern California cites a growing number of people characterizing search results as unreliable and inaccurate.  Only 51% of people trust information provided by search engines, down dramatically from 62% in 2006.  Even Almighty Google isn’t trusted by nearly half (49%) of people who use it.  What’s the point?  Customers realize that Web advertising is beyond interruptive – it’s pervasive, obstructive.  Separating ads from information is a chore and people don’t like chores!

I’ll stop there and not get all Eric Clemons on you but I hope Revenews readers will hear me out a bit.

The Low Hanging Fruit
Beyond sharing articles related to customer empowerment and pointing to competitors practicing new principles, Sam Decker recommends bringing in speakers.  The CMO of customer review solution provider, Bazaarvoice also recommends marketers send negative reviews/blog posts to customer service — making them both accountable and actionable!

“Create ‘lunch and learn’ sessions with management to show them social networking tools, and show how people are talking about your products online already,” says Decker who cut his social marketing teeth at Dell Inc.

“The low hanging fruit is to bring user-generated content (UGC) into your site, right next to your brand.  This could be reviews, community Q&A, stories, polls or other forms of UGC.”

Decker gives three reasons to do this:

1. Customers put more trust in brands when they invite real customers to talk openly in their midst.
2. UGC meets the needs of visitors are already coming to your site. Visitors seeking product information, reviews and answers from customers who have experienced your products are more relevant and credible than marketing copy.
3. By bringing “customer voice” into your site, you raise the visibility and impact of this strategy to cross-functional teams and senior management.

Decker says while others in the company know word-of-mouth is occurring on the Web putting it on your site raises the cultural awareness of the “customer voice.”

I took time out to interview Sam at a conference recently and will be publishing that interview soon… stay tuned.  In days ahead, I’ll also be back with more from Sam, comments from automotive lead generation expert Joe Loll of RockMeJoe, Revenews founder Brian Clark of GMD Studios and Studio Moderna’s Rok Hrastnik — who takes serious issue with my suggesting that interruptive advertising is unwanted  let along dying on the vine.

See original here:
Experiment with Social Marketing Fire Without Getting Burned

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It’s nothing new and has been around since the dawn of the Internet but deep linking is ever more critical, and if you don’t let your marketing and affiliates partners deep link then you’ re likely missing the mark, and losing customers, according to a new Nielsen report.

In 2004, about 40 percent of people visited a homepage and then drilled down to where they wanted to go and 60 percent used a deep link that took them directly to a page or destination inside a site. In 2008, said Dr Nielsen, only 25 percent of people travel via a homepage. The rest search and get straight there.

The report goes on to discuss how web users are becoming less patient and less distracted by sticky functions and want to get right to what they have come to do and then go elsewhere.

On the upside a greater percentage of users now actually complete what they set out to do, so if a merchant has a good site design and easy check out then the ability to drive a good conversion rate is now higher than ever, good news for merchants and affiliates!

Deep linking is very easy for the makority merchants to set up on their sites and for their affiliate programs, and is critical for sites that offer a wide range of products. That said there are still a number of affiliate programs than insist on forcing users to travel via the home page, either due to a poor eCommerce platform or a very misguided belief in what their site visitos should be forced into doing.

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Do you let your Affiliates Deep Link?

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